Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under:
Let them ... give us two bullocks ... The preparations as described were exactly accordant with the prescriptions of the Mosaic ritual (see the notes at Leviticus 1:1-17); and the mode of decision suggested by Elijah is borrowed from Leviticus 9:1-24. There was a close resemblance in the circumstances, though a much greater urgency for a miraculous attestation from heaven in the apostate times of Elijah, and the result was the same (cf. 1 Kings 18:39).